


Joyce & Jane: My Good Girl, Always

by GettingThere



Series: Joyce & Jane [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Afraid of a spanking, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Gen, Good Parent Joyce Byers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Parent-Child Relationship, no spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 09:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15070013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GettingThere/pseuds/GettingThere





	Joyce & Jane: My Good Girl, Always

Because it was a school night, Mike wasn’t allowed to stay over very late, but he and Jane had just enough time to watch one TV show before saying goodbye. It was Jane’s turn to choose what to watch and she chose Growing Pains. She knew it wasn’t Mike’s favorite show, but the sister in it was really smart and Jane liked when Mike explained the big words she used.

In that night’s episode, the older brother accidentally broke a window and tried to blame it on his younger brother. Now the two were having a fight about who would get in trouble.

_– I'm gonna tell Dad that you broke the window!_

_– Well I'm gonna tell Dad you’re a blackmailer, you little gangster!_

_– Well Dad's gonna ground you!_

_– Well Dad's gonna ground you and spank you!_

The conversation was fast, and Jane couldn’t remember all the words she didn’t understand, but there was one that stood out.

“Spank?”

“Oh, um... Spank is when you hit someone. On the butt.”

“Why?”

“Because they were bad. Like when the brother rode his skateboard in the house and broke the window.”

Jane nodded. She wasn’t going to be bad. Ever.

* * *

On Saturday mornings, Joyce gave each of her children one chore to do that day, and this morning, Jane got dusting.

Dusting was a boring chore, and slow. Pick up the lamp, wipe the table, put it back. Pick up the magazine, wipe the table, put it back. So instead of picking things up one by one, Jane decided to use her powers to lift everything off the living room tables at once. She levitated the lamps, the magazines, the picture frames, the remote control, and the ash tray and dusted the tables without a problem. But when she slowly set everything back down, one of the lamps floated a little too far away from the table.

_Crash!_

When Joyce heard the noise, she ran to the living room to see what had happened. She found Jane with tears in her eyes standing next to a crumpled lampshade and a pile of broken ceramic and glass.

“What happened, sweetheart?”

Jane couldn't look at her mother. “I picked up the lamp to dust like you said, but I dropped it.” A tear slid down Jane’s cheek.

“That’s okay, honey. I got that lamp at a garage sale. Now I just have a reason to buy a nicer one.”

“But that will cost money.”

Joyce took her daughter's hands in hers. “You don’t have to worry about money, love. We’re not rich, but we’ll always have enough to take care of ourselves.”

Jane kept her eyes on the floor. “Are you going to spank me?”

“What?! Of course not! I would never hit you. We talked about this, remember?”

“I know. But on TV...”

“What did you see on TV?”

“A boy broke a window. And then he made his brother say he did it. And then he said their dad would spank him.”

“Honey, just because you see something on TV doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to you. I promise, I’m never going to hit you. On any part of your body.”

“But I was bad.” Jane wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Love, you weren’t bad. It was an accident. Remember when we talked about accidents?”

“Ya.”

“What did we say?”

“That it’s not my fault and I’m not in trouble.”

“That’s right. Everybody has accidents, love. It’s normal. And you’re never bad. You’re my good girl. Always.”

Jane looked up at her mother. “Can I have a hug?”

“Of course you can.” Joyce wrapped her arms around her daughter and Jane rested her cheek on Joyce’s shoulder.

“Thanks for being my mom.”

Joyce kissed her daughter’s hair. “You’re more than welcome, sweetheart.”


End file.
